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De Religionibus Sacris Et Caerimoniis Est Contionatus: Piety and Public Life in Republican Rome

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De Religionibus Sacris Et Caerimoniis Est Contionatus: Piety and Public Life in Republican Rome DE RELIGIONIBUS SACRIS ET CAERIMONIIS EST CONTIONATUS: PIETY AND PUBLIC LIFE IN REPUBLICAN ROME Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Jack C. Wells, M.A. * * * * * The Ohio State University 2004 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Nathan S. Rosenstein, Adviser Professor Timothy E. Gregory ________________________ Professor Sarah Iles Johnston Adviser History Graduate Program ABSTRACT This study explores how piety became a topic for public discussion during ancient Rome’s middle and late Republican eras (264-31 B.C.). It examines public religious discussions in Rome, in particular the conflict between P. Clodius Pulcher (c. 92-52 B.C.) and M. Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.), who brought each other’s piety to the attention of their fellow citizens as part of their public rivalry. It aims to understand what caused disputes over piety and how these disputes were resolved. Public conflicts involving a person’s piety tended to occur when some novelty or unforeseen element was introduced into Roman religious life, since in these situations tradition did not provide guidelines on what the community had to do to fulfill its obligation to the gods. Such disputes often had a political element to them, but this ‘politicization’ did not indicate corruption and decline. Instead, it was inevitable, given the link between religion and politics in Roman civic life, that politics would play a role in religious conflicts. Disputes over piety took place in a wide variety of fora: in the senate, before popular assemblies, in front of priestly colleges, and in the courts. The fragmentation of civic (i.e. religious and political) authority in republican Rome made it possible for a wide variety of individuals and groups to voice their opinions on religious ii matters, and the very fact that so many people had a say in religious affairs encouraged disputes over piety to break out. Contests over piety were resolved only after the various groups with authority and the disputants reached some kind of consensus. In cases where this consensus could not be reached, the dispute was difficult to resolve, since an aggrieved party could find many venues in which to state his case. Finally, public debate was healthy for the civic cult, since it kept the Romans focused on and interested in the care of their religion. iii To Mom and Dad iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work would not have been possible without the patient help and advice of my adviser, Dr. Nathan Rosenstein, who read numerous drafts and saved me from many errors. The merits of this dissertation are largely attributable to his efforts to help me improve it. I have also benefited from the advice and encouragement of the other members of the Ohio State University faculty, in particular Drs. Jack Balcer, Timothy Gregory, Sarah Iles Johnston, Joseph Lynch, and Michael Swartz. I wish to thank my fellow graduate students, Michael Fronda, William Caraher, Daniel Sarefield, Matt Stockhausen, David Pettegrew, and John Tully. Their advice and criticism helped make me a better scholar, and I regret that I did not seek their help more often. I owe a great deal to the faculty at Virginia Tech, where I first developed my interest in Roman history. They encouraged me to pursue my studies and helped me take my first steps toward my goal. I would like to thank John Dillard, Daniel Thorp, Glenn Bugh, Andrew Becker, Terry Papillon, Nicholas Smith, Thomas Carpenter, and Gina Soter, who advised and encouraged me when I was an undergraduate. I am also grateful to Jane Phillips, Hubert Martin, Jr., Ross Scaife, Robert Rabel, Louis Swift, and Terrence Tunberg of the University of Kentucky, who taught me Latin and Greek, without which I v could not have conducted research. I also thank Dr. Daniel Gargola, of the University of Kentucky’s Department of History, whose advice and criticism helped me to develop my skills as an historian. vi VITA August 13, 1970...................................Born - Roanoke, Virginia 1988.....................................................Graduated from Northside High School, Roanoke, Virginia 1992.....................................................B. A. History, Virginia Tech 1993.....................................................B.A. Chemistry, Virginia Tech 1995.....................................................M.A. Classics, University of Kentucky 1998.....................................................M.A. History, The Ohio State University 1996-present.........................................Graduate Teaching Assistant, The Ohio State University PUBLICATIONS Research Publication 1. J. C. Wells, B. T. Thompson, and J. G. Dillard, “The Effect of Surface Preparation and Exposure Environment on the Bond Failure Processes in Adhesively Bonded Sheet Molded Composite (SMC),” J. Adhesion 48 (1995), 217-34. 2. Jack Wells, Review of John Scheid’s An Introduction to Roman Religion. The History Teacher 37 (2004), 406-407. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Ancient History vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………ii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………...iv Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………………v Vita………………………………………………………………………………………vii Chapters: 1. Introduction..............................................................................................................1 2. Piety and Politics in Republican Rome..................................................................12 Competition, Conflict, and Rome’s Civic Structure………….……….…………14 The Pax Deorum.......................................................…………………………….17 A Question of Authority.........................................................................................22 The Limits on Senatorial Authority……………………………………………...23 Vox Populi………………………………………………………………………..33 Contesting Pietas in the Courts…………………………………………………. 45 Adapting to Change: The Flexibility of Roman Ritual…………………………..53 Shades of Gray……………………………………………………………….…..60 Bibulus and Caesar................................................................................................68 Debates about Responsibilities…………………………………………………..70 Conclusions………………………………………………………………………78 3. The Bona Dea Affair……………………………………………………………..81 The Incident at Caesar’s House………………………………………………….83 Why did Clodius Violate the Rites?......................................................................84 Q. Cornificius……………………………………………………………………90 The College of Pontiffs………………………………………………………….95 The Senate Decides……………………………………………………………...99 The Charge of Incestum………………………………………………………..106 The Fight against the Rogatio Pupia Valeria…………….……...…………….109 Clodius’ Defense……………………………………………………………….115 The Trial……………………………………………………………………….117 viii Resolution?........................................................................................................118 Conclusions……………………………………………………………………121 4. The Dispute over Cicero’s House…………………………………………….124 Cicero and Clodius from 62-58 B.C. ………………………………………...127 Displays of Piety as Political Statements……………………………………..130 Cicero’s House………………………………………………………………..135 Pompey and Cicero…………………………………………………………...140 The Stakes…………………………………………………………………….142 Clodius’ Pietas ……………………………………………………………….146 Clodius’ Potential Responses………………………………………………....150 A Conflict over Procedure……………………………………………………152 The Decision of the Pontiffs………………………………………………….167 Rumor, Authority, and Perception……………………………………………169 The Senate Decides…………………………………………………………...173 The End of the Battle?......................................................................................176 Conclusions…………………………………………………………………...177 5. The Response of the Haruspices………………………………………………..181 The Prodigies in 56 B.C. ………………………………………………………184 Clodius Interprets the Response………………………………………………..191 Cicero Answers Clodius………………………………………………………..192 Cicero’s Interpretation of the Response………………………………………..196 The Destruction of Sanctuaries………………………………………………...201 Clodius and the Ambassadors………………………………………………….205 The Bona Dea Affair Redux…………………………………………………...209 Clodius’ Career: Discord and Impiety…………………………………………211 Pietas and Concordia………………………………………………………......216 Conclusions…………………………………………………………………….218 6. Conclusions……………………………………………………………………..222 Bibliography…………………………………..………………………………………228 ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Over the course of the last three decades a revolution has taken place in the perception of how the Roman civic cult developed during the republican era. Since the change in perception of Roman religion has been so profound and forced us to reevaluate so many things previously thought to be understood, I will begin my study by going down a very well-trodden path and reviewing how this revolution took place. The scholars of the nineteenth and most of the twentieth centuries who examined religious affairs during the republican era (509 B.C. - 31 B.C.) concluded that Roman religion was in a sad state of decline by the middle of the first century B.C. They looked at the attitudes of upper class Romans and discovered a cynical group of unbelievers who had been seduced by Greek philosophy and who employed religion as a political weapon. Until the 1970s, few seriously questioned Gibbon’s pithy summary of Roman polytheism: “The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful.”1 Scholars concluded
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